I have to say, I'm a little bit disappointed by the lack of respect shown towards Andrew Strauss. He's a great man, who gave everything he had on the field, and I believe he'll work his socks off to get England back to number one.
...we have to move on and get behind both Strauss, and more importantly, the team. There's been so much negativity in recent months. Let's give the new management a chance, and judge them in 18-24 months time. Strauss was a very successful captain (no matter what his methods were) and I'm sure he'll be an equally good manager.
...we now have a new director, and soon a new coach. Let's just get behind the team. Strauss has made 4 decisions that he feels are right for the team. I know I'm in a minority, but I'm pleased with all 4 decisions. Only time will tell if he's got it right, but let's not bitch about him and just give him this time.
You have a point - Strauss was captain at a time England were very successful. I personally however don't think it does to dismiss his methods so glibly; these methods go to the heart of why his appointment was so disappointing. There is no doubt that the success under Strauss came at the expense of any form of exciting or engaging cricket; appeared to over-coach the players; and blind them with stats. I'd equally argue that the success is over-overstated: Australia were extremely weak at that time, and we failed to beat arguably the strongest side in the world in that era (South Africa) in either of the two series we played against them.
I equally think the idea that we should get behind the team and/or Strauss regardless of performance, attitude or communication with supporters is ridiculous. They do not have a divine right to the public's loyalty, affection or even attention; that needs to be earned. Strauss could have earned that on Tuesday had he indeed had the "open and honest" conversation he promised, but instead his press conferences were arrogant and palpably dishonest. To allude to "trust issues" in respect of Pietersen without giving any indication of what they were, where they emanate from and what if anything is being done to attempt to move past them was pretty bad, but for it then to emerge that he offered Pietersen a Limited Overs advisory role simply made him appear mendacious.
To have hidden behind "trust issues" also required some industrial-sized balls: he is the captain who refused to even investigate whether there was a dressing room dimension to the KP Genius Twitter account. Additionally, cast your mind back to the Sri Lanka One Day series last year, and Jos Buttler's wonderful hundred - at the press conference Cook said Buttler wasn't ready for test cricket: why should Buttler trust Cook, or feel that he has Cook's? Yet Cook remains captain.
Equally, on the one hand he has said he won't be a "supremo" or involved in a tracksuit / dressing room role; on the other he has set the parameters of what that dressing room will be. We know the captain is set in stone this summer regardless of performance; we know Pietersen won't be in the team this summer regardless of performance; we know the one day and limited overs sides will have "separation"; we even know the identity of the
next captain. Strauss wants the power but shoves responsibility on to a coach he hasn't yet appointed. A coach would perhaps expect input into all these areas, but the decisions are made for him. The coach will have to win or lose not on his own terms, but on Strauss', yet Strauss doesn't even acknowledge that may limit the field.
Finally, his repeated insistence on "separation" between Limited Overs and Test sides is just facile, and ignores every trend in the game. The best players are the best players: we're likely to face 6 or 7 of the NZ World Cup final line-up in the first test, and come the Ashes the Aussies will probably have up to 8 of their World Cup winning side on the field in Cardiff. Warner, Smith, McCullum, de Villiers etc. stand out in every format. Whereas we should be bringing the aggression from ODI/T20 into the Test arena and pushing pressure on bowling sides with fast scoring, we're likely to be sticking with the attrition - hardly an inspiring prospect. Everyone is so busy focussing on Strauss ending Pietersen's England career they missed that he appeared to strangle Alex Hales' Test career at birth. The idea that we're going to be splitting our elevens into "proper players" and "sloggers" is so depressing and retrograde it hardly inspires confidence in the quality of his decision making.
The team and set up this summer will be Strauss'. He can't have it both ways - either he can concern himself with systems and player's produced at Loughborough etc. and be judged on the long term, or he can control the current team set up and be judged on the short term. If we have as bad a summer as some of us fear, if that carries on over what's scheduled to be a tough winter, he will have to go.
